Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of Booker T(aliaferro) Washington, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 2526 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Customer Reviews (1)

This volume is like a trip in time!
Booker T. leaps off the pages of this dusty volume and he is a living breathing person. His charisma and energy left me exhausted. One day he is making bricks for his college, the next he is touring New England to raise funds. His wives and friends die of exhaustion around him. I read this book by mistake. I thought it was an assignment for a class(the actual assignment was a thin biography). I took this thick and dusty volume full of footnotes on vacation to the mountains. I decided to skim it and avoid the footnotes. After the first chapter, I read every footnote and the entire volume.These are Booker's journal entries and personal papers.He literally steps out of the pages and you are totally emersed in the beginnings of Tuckaseegee and every aspect of his life. He makes the time and place as real as if you were there. I actually became exhausted by his energy and the mountain of activities he was engaged in at the time.Prior to reading this book, I was not interested in him at all. After reading it, I think he is one of history's underrated characters. This is perhaps one of the most fascinating journals I have ever read on the art of leadership. ... Read more

Book Description
The first volume of Louis R. Harlan's biography of Booker T. Washington was published to wide acclaim and won the 1973 Bancroft Prize.This, the second volume, completes one of the most significant biographies of this generation.Booker T. Washington was the most powerful black American of his time, and here he is captured at his zenith.Harlan reveals Washington's complex personality--in sharp contrast to his public demeanor, he was a ruthless power borker whose nod or frown could determine the careers of blacks in politics, education, and business.Harlan chronicles the challenge Washington faced from W.E.B. Du Bois and other blacks, and shows how growing opposition forced him to change his methods of leadership just before his death in 1915.Also available: Volume 1, $10.95k, 501915-6, 394 pp., plates ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

deliverer with human traits
_I think you will make a mistake if you will let your mind dwell too much upon American prejudice, or any other racial prejudice.The thing is for one to get above such things.If one gets in the habit of continually thinking and talking about race prejudice, he soon gets gets to the point where he is fit for little that is worth doing.In the northern part of the United States, there are a number of colored people who make their lives miserable, because all their talk is about race prejudice_Booker T. Washington in a letter to his daughter Portia then living and studying in Europe.(117)

I am greatly impressed with this text, BOOKER T. WASINGTON, The Wizard of Tuskegee, 1901-1915.Professor Louis R. Harlan earned the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for History with this biography along with the Bancroft Prize and the Beveridge Award of the American Historical Association.The principle source is the Booker T Washington Papers in the Division of Manuscripts of the LIbrary of Congress, a rich, expanding collection of approximately a million letters, speeches, reports, newspaper clippings, and other documents.Professor Harlan is the editor of the published source that extends, currently, to 14 volumes. This material is available on-line in an Open-Book format at the site maintained by the University of Illinois Press (www.historycooperative.org/btw).

This book begins in 1901, when Booker T. Washington at the age of forty-five was approaching the zenith of his fame and influence, and ends with his death in 1915.It is a biographical study in the sense that its focus is on the complex, enigmatic figure of Washington, the most powerful black minority-group boss of his time.It also recounts the inner life and struggles of the small black middle class in that generation once removed from slavery, as a coterie of college-bred black men and women challenged Washington's powerful coalition of northern, white philanthropists, southern white paternalists, black businessmen, and such members of the black professional class as he could attract to his side.

Washington's wizardry - his skill of maneuver and ability to make the most of bad circumstances - was his strong point as a leader.His greatest failing was his inability to reverse the hard times for blacks during what whites called the Progressive Era.The same era which the historian Rayford Whittingham Logan (1897-1981) called the nadir of Afro-American history.As Washington's influence declined in his last years, W.E.B DuBois, a strong critic of Washington, and the founders at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) sought relief through the court system.

It was this legal strategy of the NAACP in the 20th Century that culminated in the successful Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and it is Washington's work-ethic, self-help, self-improvement and particularly, style of accomomdation that have been forgotten or discredited.This text helps us remember what Washington accomplished, however, more importantly, Professor Harlan's meticulous investigations reveal that the character of Washington is difficult to articulate succintly.

Washington's correspondence with the large donors to Tuskegee does not reveal a conspiracy, either large or small, to prepare Tuskegee's students to become wage-workers in the corporate structure.The typical donor sent his check rather than his advice.,...Washington's efforts at Tuskegee Institute were to train students to become independent small businessmen, farmers, and teachers rather than wage-earners or servants of white employers.At the same time, it is clear that Washington flattered and cajoled the very rich and never challenged the appropriateness of their status at the peak of the American success pyramid.

Tuskegee became a mecca for not only Africans but West Indians and Asians.As his writings were translated into many foreign languages, he became the most famous black man in the world, and his fame drew foreigners to him like a magnet.All manner of men, American missionaries, European colonialists, Afican nationalists, Buddhist reformers, and Japanese modernizers sought to enlist his aid.On the one hand were whites who sought to aid in introducing plantation agriculture into colonial areas.On the other hand Africans and Asians hoped to find in Tuskegee industrial education and Washington's philosophy of self-help a source of strength to resist the political and cultural impreialism of the Europeans.Washington sought to accomodate all of these contradictory propositions.

While intrepid research has uncovered new material that lends fresh insight, rather than illuminating Washington for compassion to his motives, the added light only casts more shadows.Utterly at variance with the Sunday-school morality he publicly professed, there was also a more feral, more power-hungry Washington, inordinately involved in politics, and particularly the poitics of patronage.Few people, even those affected, such as W.E.B DuBois and Mary White Ovington, knew the extent to which Washington refused to meet our preconceived notions of how a great leader should behave.

Inexplicable human fraility, aside, as a guide for the black community, Washington had a concrete program of industrial education and the promotion of small business as the avenue of black advancement "up from slavery" and into the middle class.This program may have been anachronistic preparation for the age of mass production, urbanization, and corporate gigantism then coming into being; but it had considerable social realism for a black population which was, until long after Washington's death, predominantly rural and southern.It gave purpose and dignity to black working-class lives of toil and struggle, and also was well attuned to the growth and changing character of black business in Washington's day.He championed the emerging black business class as the leaders of black communities, and they in turn, through the National Negro Business League, became the backbone of Washington's following.

Washington's followers found hope in his message that fortified them in hopeless situations.During his time, he was exalted as a type of Moses who would lead his people to the promised land as welcome participants in the mainstream of society.For many in the US and around the world, his teachings were a type of deliverance from their oppressive circumstances.Moses had quite a few faults, as all deliverers do, and one of these faults prevented him from entering the promised land of Canaan. Even with all of his great abilities to accommodate the ruling class majority, his ability to conquer overwhelming obstacles, Booker T. Washington's inability to accomodate the strategies of the NAACP, who were themselves uncompromising, weakened his effectiveness.

After reading this remarkable text, I see Booker T. Washington as a man with great accomplishments and failings perhaps as great.Even with his shortcomings, he was exceptional as he provided his followers hope and lifted their spirit.Professor Harlan has brought to life a man of enormous complexity, who will never be completely understood or known which makes Booker T. Washington much like the people of which I claim familiarity.

PEACE ... Read more

Book Description
The beginning of the twentieth century was a critical time in African-American history. Segregation and discrimination were on the rise. Two seminal African American figures began to debate on ways to combat racial problems. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A "reader friendly" analytical survey and presentation
Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, And The Struggle For Racial Uplift by Jacqueline M. Moore (Associate Professor of History at Austin College, Sherman, Texas) is an informed and informative depiction of two remarkable and quiet different men who helped shape Black American history. Placing each man's work in historical context, and studying the debate conflict of ideas that both had and alternatives to either one's point of view, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, And The Struggle For Racial Uplift is an intelligently written, scholarly, evenhanded, and "reader friendly" analytical survey and presentation which is strongly recommended for students of Black Studies, as well as non-specialist general readers with an interest in the contributions of Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois to American society and culture. ... Read more

Book Description
This book begins in 1901, when Booker T. Washington at the age of forty-five was approaching the zenith of his fame and influence, and ends with his death in 1915. It is a biographical study in the sense that its focus is on the complex, enigmatic figure of Washington, the most powerful black minority-group boss of his time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Very Interesting and Engaging
Kudos to Mr. Louis Harlan!

In his interesting work, "The Making of a Black Leader", Mr. Harlan does a wonderful job of capturing the true meaning of Booker T. Washington in all of his dimensions in American history. Prior to reading Mr. Harlan's work, I had many preconceived notions of Booker T., the most infamous being that he was a "traitor" or an "Uncle Tom" of the black race. After reading Mr. Harlan's book, I not only continue to think that Booker T. Washington was one of the premier black conservatives of his time but, one who continues to influence black conservative political thought in contemporary American politics. In all, Mr. Harlan does a great job of presenting a balanced and fair observation of Booker's continuing legacy in the African American community and the larger American family. Using empirical data and substantive research, Mr. Harlan clearly presents many compelling arguments, in which all are supported with great evidence and interesting testimonials from speeches and interviews from years past. I urge all (especially African Americans) to read this wonderful masterpiece of African American literature.

... Read more

Book Description
During his life, Booker T. Washington was among the most celebrated educators, authors, and statesmen of his day. He walked side by side with Frederick Douglass, Mark Twain, H. G. Wells, Theodore Roosevelt, and Andrew Carnegie. He was the first African American to dine with the president in the White House and the first to have tea with the queen of England. He was the first African American to receive honorary degrees from Harvard and Dartmouth, the first African American to be honored on a postage stamp, the first African American to be commemorated on a coin, the first African American to have a naval vessel named for him, and the first African American to have schools named after him.

To many African Americans today, Washington points the way toward prosperity and sophistication. Today his spiritual and economic wisdom is being reclaimed as a proven path of racial advance, and his ideas are again gaining currency among upwardly mobile African Americans. In this brief volume, Stephen Mansfield reviews the course of Washington's life and highlights those principles and practices that undergirded the great educator's ability to empower all people to be the best they can be. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

An Amazing Man
This book is one of those rare gems that, if you're really fortunate, you come across from time to time. I received it as a gift from one of my mentors, Charlie Jones, who had, for some time now, been speaking of Booker T. Washington as one of his heroes. Having only a very surface knowledge of Mr. Washington - knowing that he was born a slave and went on to become founder of the famed Tuskegee Institute - he was a hero of mine, as well. After all, one could only imagine what he had to overcome to have achieved all he did.

However, after reading this book by Pastor Stephen Mansfield, the greatness of Mr. Washington simply came alive for me. He was a man of character, a man of faith, a dreamer and a doer; a man who moved mountains and moved hearts.

He had a plan - he had a dream - for taking his people from a horrible situation and helping them to move up and become successful in every way.

Unfortunately, as the author points out, he was fought every step along the way - often most by those he was trying to help and, in time, and long after he died in 1915, was disparaged by many as simply naïve, foolish, a misguided optimist, betrayer to his people.

Of course, none of this is true. Reading the story of Booker T. Washington in 2007 we can look back in hindsight and see that everything he taught - regarding the importance of character, thrift, knowledge, wisdom, forgiveness, love, persistence, delayed gratification, humility, etc. - is the way to build oneself, one's people and one's nation.

Only now is this man's wisdom and greatness beginning to once again be recognized and embraced. This book should be read by anyone and everyone looking to achieve greatness in their life. Read this book and you'll have the roadmap for doing so.

Booker T. Washington was a wonderful man; a hero. And the author, Pastor Mansfield, did a superb job in telling the story.

P.S. By the way, if you get an opportunity to read the booklet, "Character Building" by Booker T. Washington it will also be WELL worth your time. It's a reprinting of a number of his "Sunday Evening Talks" to his students and faculty members. The advice and wisdom that Mr. Washington shared is simply amazing.

Terrific
In another sterling volume of the Leaders in Action series, Stephen Mansfield here outlines the life and character of Booker T. Washington. In vivacious voice and moving magniloquence, Mansfield traces Washington's path from slavery to his founding of Tuskegee Institute. He shows the difficulties Washington surpassed in reaching his goals, and the principles that helped him make it. In the words of Washington, "Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succed." By this standard, Booker T. Washington was an astonishingly successful man.

Washington wrote his own autobiography, _Up From Slavery_, which must certainly not be neglected. But Mansfield's biography is also a criticial read because he includes facts that the autobiographer was too modest to mention, and he highlights wonderful aspects of Washington's character that humility prevented him from including. This biography doesn't contain the wonderful self-analysis and insight of Booker himself - but it does contain all the benefits of a third person account.

One thing I really appreciated about this book was its terrific analysis of slavery and inter-race reconciliation. Expounding Booker's opinion, Mansfield blames both whites and blacks for the problems that cropped up after the Civil War. Whites needed to repent of their brutal treatment of slaves and actually begin considering blacks more than mere animals; and blacks needed to repent of their spirit of bitterness toward their white enslavers, and begin working hard and leaving no excuse for disrespect of blacks. Too many books on reconciliation have practically advocated bitterness, hatred, and laziness when what is really needed is Washington's outlook of forgiveness and hard work. This book offers relief from such pride.

To wrap up, this is a great biography. Good history, good style, and good content. Buy it.

Outstanding biography of an outstanding Black American.
Then Darkness Fled is a celebration of the life of Booker T. Washinghton and tells of a man who dined with heads of state and became the first Afro-American to receive honorary degrees from Harvard and Dartmouth.Chapters survey both his achievements and his life in this lively coverage. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Booker T. Washington
This is a good book for anyone looking for basic information on Booker T. Washington.The photos are well done, and the text is easy reading for early grade readers.While giving a good summary of Washington's life,including his childhood, this book does not go into the importance of manyof his actions such as his speech in Atlanta (the Atlanta Compromise). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Story of Booker T. Washington (Cornerstones of Freedom)
This was an excellent work overviewing the major achievements of Booker T. Washington.Concentrating on his years at Tuskegee Institute, the authors do a good job portraying Washington's beliefs while explaining the political climate at the time.Washington's critics of the time were alsoacknowledged and their views represented.The book also explains what agreat example Tuskegee Institute and Washington's educational ideas werefor others establishing similar institutions. ... Read more

Book Description
On the ninetieth anniversary of Booker T. Washington’s death comes a passionate, provocative dialogue on his complicated legacy, including the complete text of his classic autobiography, Up from Slavery.

Booker T. Washington was born a slave in 1858, yet roughly forty years later he had established the Tuskegee Institute. Befriended by a U.S. president and corporate titans, beloved and reviled by the black community, Washington was one of the most influential voices on the postslavery scene. But Washington’s message of gradual accommodation was accepted by some and rejected by others, and, almost a century after his death, he is still one of the most controversial and misunderstood characters in American history.

Uncle Tom or New Negro? does much more than provide yet another critical edition of Washington’s memoirs. Instead, Carroll has interviewed an outstanding array of African American luminaries including Julianne Malveaux, cultural critics Debra Dickerson and John McWhorter, and Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and radio talk-show host Karen Hunter, among others. In a dazzling collection bursting with invigorating and varying perspectives, (e.g. What would Booker T. think of Sean Combs or Russell Simmons? Was Washington a “tragic buffoon” or “a giver of hope to those on the margins of the margins”?) this cutting-edge book allows you to reach your own conclusions about a controversial and perhaps ultimately enigmatic figure. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Booker T. Washington - Historical Perspective and Limitations
There appears to be new interest in the life and works of Booker T Washington. In her recent anthology, entitled Uncle Tom or New Negro? : African Americans Reflect on Booker T. Washington and UP FROM SLAVERY 100 Years Later;Rebecca Carroll includes the thoughts of a number of prominent African Americans regarding the importance of Booker T. Washington.

With such a provocative title, I couldn't help but dust off my old copy of Up From Slavery to see if there are any useful insights from the dawn of the twentieth century which would be applicable in the 21st century.

Traditionally, there was always a debate regarding his view of the best route for African-American progress. This debate has contrasted Booker T. Washington's advocacy for self-help and practical education against the aggressive advocacy of W.E.B. Dubois for social and political equality.

It is important to place Mr. Washington's work in perspective in terms of the times in which it was written. The American civil war was over. The conflict was (and is) the costliest war for the United States in terms of lives lost. The process of reconstruction was overwhelming and flawed on many levels. Mr. Washington does a good job at describing the fact that many African Americans rushed into political and academic puruits prematurely in the wake of Slavery.

The combination of poorly prepared and unethical individuals in these fields likely was responsible for a number of problems faced by former slaves. Mr. Washington's theory was that through practical education and trades, that African-Americans would be able to prove themselves as being worthy of citizenship in the United States.

While I do agree with Mr. Washington that there is much be said for individuals who have merit and equip themselves with skills necessary to function in modern day society, it is also apparent that the view of Mr. Washington's ,autobiography,was overly optimistic and ultimately limiting.

As a college student in the 1980s, I firmly aligned myself with the philosophies of W.E.B. Dubois as detailed in The Souls of Black Folk


William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was a professor of sociology at Atlanta University who disputed the main principles of Washington's political program, (ie, the idea that voting and civil rights were less important to black progress than acquiring property and achieving economic self-sufficiency). Unlike Washington, who foresaw the steady obliteration of racial prejudice and discrimination, Du Bois prophesied in the opening lines of The Souls of Black Folk: "The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line."


Ultimately, all of the hard work and merit in the world has not been enough to eliminate race prejudice and discrimination of African-Americans. While the actions of Mr. Washington as outlined in his autobiography are clearly laudable; they are (in retrospect) inadequate in terms of achieving equality and justice for minorities in the United States.

Worth your time...
Whether you admire, dislike or have barely heard of Booker T. Washington, he remains an important figure in American history and one, I dare say, many of us should know more about. Carroll has put together a very thoughtful and varied collection of work about him which is also the proverbial "good read."

Uncle Tom or New Negro
UNCLE TOM OR NEW NEGRO: African Americans Reflect On Booker T. Washington and Up From Slavery 100 Years Later, edited by Rebecca Carroll takes a look back at Booker T. Washington. It was a blend of those who feel that Booker T. Washington was the man with the right ideas regarding race relations in America and those who feel that he let African Americans down in his haste to placate the white majority of the time. His defenders stressed that he worked behind the scenes to push for civil rights and those who were not so enamored of him felt his contributions were lacking in that he stressed hard work for African Americans without pushing for equality as well. Some of the contributing writers were Dr. Julianne Malveaux, Ronald Walters, Earl Ofari Hutchinson and Debra Dickerson. Each presented arguments for their position regarding Booker T. Washington. Also included was the entire text of Mr. Washington's memoir, Up From Slavery, which was extremely helpful in digesting the arguments of the various commentators.

Ms. Carroll did a commendable job of getting together those who are pro Washington and those who have issues with his handling of the race question at the end of the 19th century. The book gives a wonderful overview of the issues surrounding Washington as well as a view of the times when he was successfully attempting to establish his school at Tuskegee. Whether you are for Washington's accomodationist position or against it, it is a book well worth reading for its historical value.

Reviewed by Alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers

sweet read
Carroll provides a thoughtful and incisive meditation on race, history and culture--a collage of perspectives that elaborates and enriches the discourse on race.

Review by the Greek Spike Lee
After reading Saving the Race, by Rebecca Carroll, I was inspired to read her new book Uncle Tom or New Negro. I was not dissapointed. As with the amazing Saving the Race, this new book trancends race issues and provides an important perspective on ourselves as a society in uncertain times. I would suggest reading this book to anyone with a heart and a brain. Carroll moves us with her brillaint insights and the substance to back it up. It is an excellent and riveting read. Important stuff for all people of all races today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Well-done story, fabulous illustrations
For a good background on Booker T. Washington that does not try to place blame (for slavery), this is the book to read. It gave a lovely story onhis life, without getting into politics. The real joy of this book are theillustrations. The artist captures the essence of the time and the personin beautifully rendered paintings. While children will enjoy the"pictures" and the story, anyone will appreciate this as awonderful art book. The artist has done another children's book that isjust as beautiful as this one. Between the author and the artist, Booker T.Washington's life was captured in an unforgettable way. Look forward toseeing and reading more from both these talented people! ... Read more

Book Description
Describes the life of Booker T. Washington, his accomplishments as an educator and his impact on the fight for equality. ... Read more